ATACAMA CROSSING - STAGE 5 OF 6

Stage 5 was the notorious “long day.” It was 45-miles of slogging through crusty and sharp salt flats, dealing with temperatures cresting 100 degrees, struggling to climb massive sand dunes, and for all but two of the competitors, navigating at night by headlamp. Thankfully, I was one of those two competitors. Which means that I arrived in camp early. Which further means that my time was relatively fast.

It was a good day of racing for this kid. On the heels of a disastrous day, today was remarkably strong, the body feeling resilient and recovered.

Tomorrow is the last day of racing. It is a very short, easy stage, designed to be fast and completed quickly so that the competitors can regroup and pack before departing on Sunday. Right now, from a competitive standpoint, things look fairly promising. I’ve somehow been able to develop a time lead that will be difficult to overcome in the one short stage remaining. That being said, anything can happen out here in the Atacama Desert, so I’m not cherishing my medal just yet (in fact, I’m not even taking finishing the event for granted).

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